How much University allowance for son?

burlingtonfl6

Let him stand on his own feet and you'll teach him something far more valuable than and any university will.

mutley74

thanks everyone for so much information. 
To answer some questions
I have completed the parents section of a student finance application.  Only thing is my income has dropped 80%+ since the virus. 
I don't know if he has received details of his allowance yet. 
The guarantor request came from the  student  hall provider. I have not completed this as he told me to wait. 
 

zagfles

annabanana82 said:

zagfles said:

silvercar said:

zagfles said:

I'm just wondering where (outside London) the 2nd cheapest uni accomodation is >£200 pw? Even in London there's loads of uni accomodation under £200pw.

Bristol for a start. 

Seriously? Look at http://www.bristol.ac.uk/accommodation/media/docs/Undergraduate-Fees-20-21.pdf

Never mind the cheapest, or 2nd cheapest, ALL the accomodation other than catered or studio is under £200pw

Cheapest is £111 of which there's several types and next cheapest is £121.

The trouble with Bristol is that a lot of the students want to live in Clifton and the surrounding areas which is the most expensive part of Bristol, and that includes those that go to UWE not just Bristol Uni. 
But the student houses near UWE are also competing with a large number of international Defence companies that all moved into the area when the MOD moved into Bristol. 
There are plenty of other areas that are much cheaper to rent but no idea if Students can rent on the private market?

There's nothing to stop students renting on the private market, and usually a lot cheaper than uni accomodation. But I think most unis recommend staying in uni accomodation for the first year, plus there's no hassle with bills, landlords, references, guarantors etc. As above, staying in uni accomodation is expensive but nowhere near expensive as some people think!

I think our kids spent about £100pw on all non-accomodation living costs during term time (about 32 weeks), they were home in the holidays and spent very little, so that's £3200, take that off max loan and it allows £5744 for rent, divide by 43 (typical rent term - usually have to pay in the xmas/easter hols) and they could afford £133pw rent. Which is top end uni accomodation in some places, bottom end in others (like Bristol!).

As per Martin's article, if they don't get the max loan that's because the system assumes a parental contribution of the difference between the max and actual loan. Whether you choose to pay it or not is up to you.

zagfles

mutley74 said:

thanks everyone for so much information. 
To answer some questions
I have completed the parents section of a student finance application.  Only thing is my income has dropped 80%+ since the virus. 
I don't know if he has received details of his allowance yet. 
The guarantor request came from the  student  hall provider. I have not completed this as he told me to wait. 
 

If income has dropped by more than 15% you can do a "current year income" estimate and they'll pay student finance based on that. You need to estimate for the current tax year, but if you get it wrong it will be adjusted, so it's best to give a top end estimate to avoid an overpayment, which they'll ask him to pay back or take out of next year's award.

See https://media.slc.co.uk/sfe/currentyearincome/index.html

PS I'm assuming you're English - it's different in other parts of the UK.

elsien

mutley74 said:

thanks everyone for so much information. 
To answer some questions
I have completed the parents section of a student finance application.  Only thing is my income has dropped 80%+ since the virus. 
I don't know if he has received details of his allowance yet. 
The guarantor request came from the  student  hall provider. I have not completed this as he told me to wait. 
 

Can you afford to be a guarantor if your income has dropped so much? If you do end up having to pay for him for a variety of reasons. 

mutley74

elsien said:

mutley74 said:

thanks everyone for so much information. 
To answer some questions
I have completed the parents section of a student finance application.  Only thing is my income has dropped 80%+ since the virus. 
I don't know if he has received details of his allowance yet. 
The guarantor request came from the  student  hall provider. I have not completed this as he told me to wait. 
 

Can you afford to be a guarantor if your income has dropped so much? If you do end up having to pay for him for a variety of reasons. 

I kept some savings especially for him aside for university to or to help him with first home. 

mutley74

zagfles said:

mutley74 said:

thanks everyone for so much information. 
To answer some questions
I have completed the parents section of a student finance application.  Only thing is my income has dropped 80%+ since the virus. 
I don't know if he has received details of his allowance yet. 
The guarantor request came from the  student  hall provider. I have not completed this as he told me to wait. 
 

If income has dropped by more than 15% you can do a "current year income" estimate and they'll pay student finance based on that. You need to estimate for the current tax year, but if you get it wrong it will be adjusted, so it's best to give a top end estimate to avoid an overpayment, which they'll ask him to pay back or take out of next year's award.

See https://media.slc.co.uk/sfe/currentyearincome/index.html

PS I'm assuming you're English - it's different in other parts of the UK.

Yes in England. 
When i completed the online finance form, strangely there was no question to mention any expected drop in income. Does that mean i need to give them a call?

Also no idea why he wants to choose private university accommodation vs university owned  - very difficult to influence any of his own decisions. 

Savvy_Sue

mutley74 said:

Yes in England. 
When i completed the online finance form, strangely there was no question to mention any expected drop in income. Does that mean i need to give them a call?

Also no idea why he wants to choose private university accommodation vs university owned  - very difficult to influence any of his own decisions. 

no, they don't mention that you can change it to an in-year assessment. I don't know how you tell them about this, but it is definitely a thing you can do. 

Smiles to self about our inability to influence their decisions ... is he perhaps waiting to hear whether he's got a place in university accommodation, but has applied for the private 'halls' as a stopgap? 

zagfles

mutley74 said:

zagfles said:

mutley74 said:

thanks everyone for so much information. 
To answer some questions
I have completed the parents section of a student finance application.  Only thing is my income has dropped 80%+ since the virus. 
I don't know if he has received details of his allowance yet. 
The guarantor request came from the  student  hall provider. I have not completed this as he told me to wait. 
 

If income has dropped by more than 15% you can do a "current year income" estimate and they'll pay student finance based on that. You need to estimate for the current tax year, but if you get it wrong it will be adjusted, so it's best to give a top end estimate to avoid an overpayment, which they'll ask him to pay back or take out of next year's award.

See https://media.slc.co.uk/sfe/currentyearincome/index.html

PS I'm assuming you're English - it's different in other parts of the UK.

Yes in England. 
When i completed the online finance form, strangely there was no question to mention any expected drop in income. Does that mean i need to give them a call?

Yes it's a separate process, they initially assess on income 2 years ago, then if you think this year's will be at least 15% less you can do a current year income form, see the link I posted above, tells you what you need to do.

mutley74

Son wants me to complete a form for acting as guarantor for accommodation with Derwent Student Accommodation. Apparently the deadline is this Friday.  I am a bit surprised about this as the A level results are not even out and his place not even confirmed.  I dont know what to do, he is very stubborn and wont talk openly to me about his place or plans. Just gives sends me a message "Dad fill in this form asap".